EPA Reaches $241 Million Settlement With Marathon Oil

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice have announced a settlement with Marathon Oil requiring the company to pay a penalty of $64.5 million for Clean Air Act violations on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The company will also have to invest in compliance measures totalling an estimated $177 million.

A complaint alleges that violations at nearly 90 of Marathon Oil’s facilities led to thousands of tons of illegal pollution, which contributes to health problems and climate change.

“This historic settlement—the largest ever civil penalty for violations of the Clean Air Act at stationary sources—will ensure cleaner air for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and other communities in North Dakota, while holding Marathon accountable for its illegal pollution,” attorney general Merrick Garland says in a statement from the EPA. Stationary sources include facilities such as oil and gas tank systems, per the agency.

“This settlement is a major win for the health and future of our Tribal communities, including people and families who are often overburdened by pollution,” EPA administrator KC Becker says in the agency’s statement. “As a result of the agreement, Marathon has and will continue to take comprehensive measures to come into compliance and reduce harmful emissions across hundreds of production sources. These investments will improve air quality and reduce respiratory illnesses across the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and western North Dakota.”

Marathon is the 22nd-largest producer of oil by 2022 data and the seventh largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the oil and gas industry, per the EPA. It operates 169 well pads in North Dakota, per Steve Karnowski of the Associated Press.

A large fraction of its emissions come from flaring, which is the practice of burning natural gas that comes from oil production in order to dispose of it, according to the World Bank. But flaring is an inefficient process that releases methane into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Flaring results in the emission of the equivalent 350 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, per the World Bank.

By following the compliance measures, Marathon will reduce harmful emissions at 200 facilities across North Dakota, per the EPA. Most of the compliance measures will be implemented by the end of 2024.

The complaint alleges that Marathon didn’t get the necessary pre-construction and operating permits. The complaint also alleges that Marathon avoided these permitting requirements by submitting “artificially low” emissions estimates “based on erroneous and unreasonable assumptions,” and the company emits much more pollution than it says it does, according to Sean Reilly of Environment & Energy News (E&E News).

Marathon was illegally emitting pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide and methane. VOCs can cause difficulty breathing, nausea, damage to the central nervous system and other organs, and some can cause cancer, according to the American Lung Association. Outdoors, elevated levels of carbon monoxide can cause problems for people with some types of heart disease, per the EPA. Methane is 28 times better at trapping heat in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide.

Under the new agreement, Marathon will reduce emissions by the equivalent of more than 2.25 million tons of carbon dioxide over the next five years, the equivalent of taking nearly half a million cars off the road for a year, according to the EPA. It will also reduce VOC emissions by 110,000 tons.

Will Sullivan | | READ MORE

Will Sullivan is a science writer based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Inside Science and NOVA Next.